When Contex was originally founded in 1923, the company designed and manufactured inventive, "time-saving" business machines. These included printing machines, mechanical and electronic calculators and electrostatic copiers, which were distributed and sold worldwide under the Rex-Rotary and Gestetner brand names.  By the early 1980s, Contex had evolved into what it is today, laying the foundation for Contex Scanning Technology. The development of modular scanning technology began in 1986 and in 1988 Contex introduced its first monochrome large format scanner. The company released a complete line of monochrome scanners in 1990, and launched its first large format color scanners in 1996. Today, Contex offers 18", 25", 36", 42" and 54" all-in-one, color and monochrome scanners.